[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 15 (Wednesday, January 23, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3228-3229]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-1694]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Availability of The Record of Decision for the Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for The Old Agency Area 
(Project 3P13) of the Natchez Trace Parkway

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 
announces the availability of a signed Record of Decision (March 23, 
2001) on the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the 
Old Agency Area (Project 3P13) of the Natchez Trace Parkway.
    The Natchez Trace Parkway was established in 1938 to commemorate 
the Old Natchez Trace, a primitive network of trails that stretched 
approximately 716 kilometers (444 mi.) from Natchez, Mississippi, to 
Nashville, Tennessee. Today, two portions of the parkway motor road 
comprising about 32 kilometers (20 mi.) of its total length remain 
unfinished in Mississippi. The 1.8 kilometer (1.1 mi.) unfinished 
segment of the parkway known as 3P13 is within the city of Ridgeland 
and, is the focus of the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (FSEIS) for the Old Agency Road Area and the Record of 
Decision.
    In 1998, public workshops produced 16 conceptual alternatives for 
construction of the parkway motor road and local public roads within 
the project area. Following additional public review and NPS evaluation 
of the conceptual alternatives, five concepts were determined to be the 
most viable and consistent with the proposed project's purpose. These 
five concepts were further refined and were analyzed in the Draft and 
Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Old Agency 
Road Area as Alternatives 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Alternative 1 is the 
alternative that was originally proposed in the 1978 Final 
Environmental Impact Statement for Natchez Trace Parkway; it is the no-
action alternative and served

[[Page 3229]]

as a baseline for comparing the other alternatives.
    On August 3, 1998, the National Park Service published in the 
Federal Register a notice of intent to prepare a Draft Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement for the Old Agency area (Project 3P13) 
of the Natchez Trace Parkway.
    The National Park Service will implement the Revised Proposed 
Action as described in the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Old Agency Road Area (Project 3P13) of the Natchez 
Trace Parkway which was made available to the public in February of 
2001.
    The Selected Action (Revised Proposed Action) was developed after 
public review of the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. 
Under the Selected Action, the Natchez Trace Parkway motor road will 
cross the Old Natchez Trace (Old Agency Road) approximately at-grade 
and closely follow the existing topography through the NPS right-of-way 
connecting existing parkway to the east and to the west of the project 
area. To provide local east-west vehicular circulation and traffic 
capacity, Old Agency Road Relocated will be constructed south of the 
parkway motor road from near Whippoorwill Lane to Highland Colony 
Parkway. To further enhance local north-south traffic circulation 
through the project area, traffic will crossover the parkway via a 
bridge which will link Old Agency Road and Old Agency Road Relocated. 
The new crossover road between Old Agency Road and Old Agency Road 
Relocated will begin approximately across from St. Andrew's school 
ballfield parking lot. Access to the Choctaw Agency site will be 
provided directly from the parkway motor road, and a parking area for 
visitors will be developed. Old Agency Road from near Whippoorwill Lane 
to Richardson Road will be closed to vehicular traffic and restored to 
Old Natchez Trace appearances (the asphalt road surface will be 
removed, the surface will be graded to drain, planted with turf 
grasses, and kept mowed); vehicular traffic will be rerouted to Old 
Agency Road Relocated.
    Access to Interstate 55 to the east of the project area will be 
through the remaining existing Old Agency Road as well as along Old 
Agency Road Relocated to Highland Colony Parkway. In addition, short 
portions of Brame Road, and a portion of the northern entrance to the 
Dinsmor subdivision will be revegetated, and a portion of the Greenwood 
Plantation driveway will also be closed within the NPS right-of-way and 
restored to its appearance of historical significance. Access to Brame 
Road, Dinsmor subdivision and the Greenwood Plantation will be via the 
new Old Agency Road Relocated. A deed-reserved driveway will be 
provided from Old Agency Road Relocated to a tract of land south of the 
parkway and just east of Dinsmor subdivision. Access to the Canterbury 
and Windrush subdivisions will continue to be accessed via Old Agency 
Road. Old Agency Road Relocated will provide access and circulation for 
local through-traffic, and a new intersection will be constructed at 
Highland Colony Parkway.
    Natural resource impacts (such as vegetation, soils, wildlife) for 
the Selected Action and each of the five alternatives considered are 
very similar because the parkway motor road would follow nearly the 
same alignment through the NPS right-of-way in each alternative. In 
general, natural resource impacts are considered negligible under the 
Selected Action and all alternatives due to the already highly 
fragmented landscape and preponderance of locally abundant and edge-
adapted plant and animal species occupying the project area. No 
federally or state threatened or endangered species or their habitats 
are impacted under the Selected Action. The Selected Action would 
negatively impact 0.62 ha (1.53 ac) of Palustrine wetlands. Negative 
wetland impacts between the Selected Action and the alternatives would 
vary by just 0.2 ha (0.5 ac). As described in the wetland Statement of 
Findings (reviewed and approved by the Southeast Regional Director, 
National Park Service), wetland loss will be mitigated at a 2:1 ratio. 
Implementation of the Selected Action will not result in impairment 
from indirect, direct, or cumulative impacts and will not violate the 
NPS Organic Act.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For a complete copy of the Record of 
Decision and Statement of Findings, contact the Superintendent of the 
Natchez Trace Parkway at (662) 680-4025 or at the following address: 
Wendell A. Simpson, Superintendent, 2680 Natchez Trace Parkway, Tupelo, 
Mississippi 38804.

    Dated: June 21, 2001.

    Editorial Note: This document was received at the Office of the 
Federal Register on January 17, 2002.
Wally Hibbard,
Regional Director, Southeast Region.
[FR Doc. 02-1694 Filed 1-18-02; 11:21 am]
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